Source: Blabbermouth
Fan-filmed video footage of MACHINE HEAD ‘s July 10 performance at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival at Molson Canadian Amphitheatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada can be seen below.
Bassist Jared MacEachern (pictured below) made his live debut with MACHINE HEAD on June 24 in Spokane, Washington.
Some fans might remember MacEachern from MACHINE HEAD‘s 2007“The Black Tyranny” tour, on which he performed with his previous band,SANCTITY. MACHINE HEAD, challenged to find a fill-in bass player for the North American tour after an injury sidelined their then-four-stringerAdam Duce, also found themselves in need of someone to sing harmony with singer/guitarist Robb Flynn.
Earlier this year, MACHINE HEAD conducted an extensive search for candidates through various channels, the most fruitful of which proved to be video submissions. Sifting through more than 400 videos, the band personally reviewed and evaluated everyone’s performances, includingMacEachern, who made the short list without a second thought.
After reviewing all of the submissions, the band narrowed down the 400-plus candidates to a short list of seven, each of whom took a trip to Oakland to perform a handful of songs in person and spend the day hanging with the band.
Frontman Robb Flynn reflected: “We really wanted a guy that was hungry for this, someone who could live and breathe this with us. Dave [McClain, drums] would joke around that we didn’t want to get someone too green that’d be, like, ‘Oh my god, is this a dressing room?!’, but we also didn’t want someone who was too jaded by the whole thing and ‘been there done that.’ We thought the perfect guy would be someone who’d paid some dues, who had done nine or ten crummy van tours, and wasn’t broken by that, but inspired to keep going and play music, and in many ways that was Jared. I mean, hell, the guy’s only rode in a bus for two nights, one of which was with us! It brings a really cool level of appreciation to the table, and it shows where his heart’s at.”
